Hate Group Suggests DADT Repeal Led To Increased Suicides Among Troops

The American Right has a certain love/utter contempt relationship with the military, specifically as it pertains to our troops and veterans. On a meta scale, it tends to be conservatives who utter useless platitudes about supporting our troops, and then go into the voting booth and pull the lever for Republicans who will only provide our troops the things they need if a defense contractor is getting paid off in the process, and who will vote to cut benefits and medical care for veterans at every turn. The problem of suicide among our troops and veterans is huge, and it largely has to do with something called PTSD. Google it if you’re not familiar. There are other factors involved, but any sane person knows for damn sure that it doesn’t have a thing to do with gays serving in the military openly. Buster Wilson of the American Family Association hate group cynically and stupidly wonders if it does, though. Here’s his reaction to the news that suicide among active duty troops is on the upswing:

Look, we understand that you hate gay people over at the American Family Association, Buster. The thinly veiled contempt you’re showing for the troops, as if they’re pansy pawns in your culture war games, eaten up by the same bizarre, weak-assed Fear of the Gay that you are, makes me sick to my stomach.

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Priya LynnJune 13, 2012 at 6:32 pm -

Buster said “Your mockery and hatefulness is surpassing anything I’ve ever heard from anyone on the evangelical side of things.”.

LOL, that’s an outrageous mockery of the truth. You seek to deny us equal rights, the right to marry, the right to adopt, the right to not be fired from our jobs or evicted from our homes for reasons other than our ability to be good employees and tenants. You seek to destroy our relationships, happiness, and mental health.

We seek to deny you nothing, we stand up and fight so you may have the same rights we have. I hate you but I in no way seek to harm you, you most certainly cannot say the same.

There is absolutely no doubt you are on the side of evil and hate and destruction and we are on the side of all that is good and right. The hate you have for us infinitely surpasses the hate we have for you.

LynusJune 13, 2012 at 6:54 pm -

Buster,

At the end of the day you as a grown man must be held accountable for the legacy you leave your children. Have you ever stopped to wonder how that’s going to be seen. We often look at those who stood in the way of civil rights as bigots and narrow minded simple folk. For the record, I am talking about those who stood against interracial marriage, woman’s rights and slavery. Often (mind you you need to read a history book for this) the exact same arguments used in this very thread were used to legitimize hatred of a specific race of people. Surely you can not denounce the similarities…. So with that knowledge how do you think history will judge you Buster? I know your going to probably spout out something about Jesus being the only judge and start trumpeting your moral superiority at me.. But these are things that are tangible. Your life’s work. Literature, videos etc. Will forever be chained to bigotry and simple minded thinking. Unfortunately this is not 1950. The internet will have solid recordings of your words, your actions and your very sense of who you are. Is this really the type of legacy you want to leave to your children? Will they be proud to show this information in 20 or 30 years? And stand up and say “that’s MY father!”. Do you think so? Would you proudly proclaim your grand daddy was a KKK member? Really?

You have to be looking at the trends of social acceptance of gays and lesbians. Highly on the upswing and has been for over a decade. Where do you see this stopping? In what world does this not end with our side winning and in what world do you look at your actions long after your gone and think, “My children will be proud”. I don’t hate you Buster, I don’t know you. But I certainly do pity your children and grand children. Your very family name. I fear your shortsightedness will be your very undoing sir. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I think as a reasonable man you cant honestly deny the inevitability of the outcome of your actions.

BuffyJune 13, 2012 at 7:07 pm -

Is there anything they won’t blame on Teh Gays?

GeneJune 13, 2012 at 7:20 pm -

It is people like you Buster, and the other bigots at the Anti Family Association, that hurt gay people, and few and fewer people (even among hillbillies in the south) are buying your garbage.

Let me tell you what you DO achieve when you make ridiculous statements like you folks at AFA do everyday.
You achieve in letting your hatefulness color how the rest of the country view your faith. I am going to tell you a famous quote by a man named Gandhi (look him up after you finish touring the kings birthpshack in your lovely headquarters of Tupolo)

“I like your Christ. I don’t like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”

You, Buster, and the other folks at the AFA, are the poster children for that saying.

“If thats what Christians are like, I don’t want anything to do with them”. After reading what you write, I understand why they would feel that way.

You bring shame to your faith.

Regan DuCasseJune 13, 2012 at 7:22 pm -

@Buster, your answer to Doug at #38.

You seriously have no idea what you’re talking about. For the last century, when outright execution or imprisonment was the preferred treatment of gay people, it’s been institutionalization. Effectively making people who haven’t committed any crimes or assaulted anyone, wards of the state and completely dependent.
And the ways those executions, arrests and other forms of incarceration happened was because of the INVASIVE and unrelenting pall of suspicion that follows gay men and women everywhere.
DADT was precisely because otherwise discreet gay people ALWAYS had someone too willing and able to spy on them, to deliberately start rumors or outright blackmail to out someone gay in order to have them fired from their jobs.
The Briggs initiative in CA back in the late mid 70′s was implemented to keep gays from being near children.
In our very social society, a man or woman who was never married and middle aged with no children would arouse suspicion of being gay.
People expect to ask after a stranger’s marital status, status as a parent.
Identifying gay people ANYWHERE has been the life’s work and careers of many.
And SOLELY to ruin their lives.
To disrupt their families, to utterly destroy them.

And making that less and less of an option, is why already being out, already being known and understood as a gay person reduces such personal and unfair destruction to an otherwise contributing and even successful person.
It’s still an issue where members of the entertainment business or some other high profile type career, might be compromised if known to be gay.

But you tell Doug, you DARE to lament that gay people aren’t secretive and quiet and private in what they are doing.
In other words, you hate that gays and lesbians DON’T KNOW THEIR PLACE.
Your lament is as if gay people EVER had the OPTION of PRIVACY or being left in peace.
Well, they HAVEN’T.
And when revealed, it’s not just their careers and families at risk, but their VERY LIVES.

You foment such paranoia and inflammatory assumptions, as many other do, that it still makes casual contact between gay and het people IMPOSSIBLE without the gay person literally risking their lives.
That’s what school bullying is about.

18 year old Tyler Clementi TRIED to keep his gay relationship private. He was a talented violinist his freshmen semester at Rutgers.
And WHAT does his roommate Dharun Ravi do, out of the very mean and anti gay spite you deny occurs.
He set up a secret camera, and then posted it all over the internet for everyone in the school and beyond to see.
Tyler committed suicide a few days later.
He’s one of millions who are denied their privacy, and are subject to people thinking it’s their DUTY to humiliate and insert themselves into gay people’s lives without caring about the risks, liability or consequences to that gay people.
To YOU, that’s what they get for being gay.

I’m being civil with you, just like Doug. And like Doug, there was a time when a mouthy black woman like me would be beaten, fired…raped and humiliated for speaking my intelligent mind because it’s taken for granted I don’t have one and should be silent and defer to people like you.
Well, it’s not ancient history that such things HAVE happened and threatened me.

So you STILL give offense by saying to Doug, that you liked gay people a lot better when they didn’t tell the world who they were and that their lives had worth.

And another legacy of the civil rights era that makes me SO PROUD of my gay and lesbian family is, despite the horrific and brutal things that have happened to any of their number, even gay CHILDREN…
Gay people do NOT respond in kind. It’s been a non violent, peaceful and courageous stand against injustice and harm.
Each and every response to whatever outrage, has typically been met with DUE PROCESS OF LAW.
Litigation, access to the courts, peaceful assembly and protest are ALL legal avenues in which to have these legitimate grievances heard.

And you DARE to be annoyed or offended that gay people choose this avenue of gaining more equality?

The real question is: what’s YOUR excuse?
Because when it’s all said and done, you have no right to control or tyrannize gay people with your political advantage. Self determination is in the DNA of every human being.
And the self determination of gay people doesn’t come at the expense of your own.
You have no right to control gay people and nothing good is served by doing so and NEVER HAS BEEN.
Any more than controlling women or blacks ever was.

I work for one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the world. I work alongside gay uniform officers and detectives. Some of them are former military.
These are men and women whose moral courage FAR outclasses yours.
They have been willing to risk their lives and commit to doing good work and protect people like YOU and your rights and family: but don’t receive the same in return.
The moral potential of an entire group of people like gays and lesbians who can do that, is utterly squandered on the likes of you.
And that’s what makes you a moral coward. The fact that without even EARNING your rights and freedoms or actively protecting them yourself, you still think it’s just fine to deny them to people with the ability to be powerful allies.

I wish you knew what I do: that being in company of people, who, if you show real respect and love and understanding, you get much more in return.
So it’s ME who knows what loving and respecting this group really means and feels like and what happens when you do.
Not you.

Richard RushJune 13, 2012 at 8:43 pm -

Hey Buster, could it be that you and many other demagogues have lucrative jobs, thanks to the so-called homosexual lifestyle? Could it be that you have perfected the art of exploiting and further inflaming the bigotry of the gullible populace for AFA’s financial gain, as well as your own? Could it be that you might be an unemployed loser if you were not willing to persecute others for pay? Could it be that your god is on the side of gay people, and has favored and enabled the enormous progress towards equality since the 1960s? Could it be that the final hurdle of full marriage equality across the USA is just around the corner, and then you and your fellow demagogues will be unemployed? Could it be that you have no evidence whatsoever to conclude that your religion is true, and all others are false? Could it be that your god does not exist, and thus your entire life is based largely on a delusion?

I’m sorry, truly sorry that ALL you can do is refute what I say with name calling.”
You lie. Almost every line you’ve posted has been a lie.
I can not argue with you without calling you a liar. If calling you a liar makes this conversation uncivil, than you are the uncivil one for *requiring* this of anybody who argues with you.

And for everything else about everything you’ve said, of course.
Your *goal* is to harm us. You can’t claim civility just because you’re polite (and you also really can’t just *say* you’re polite, either, you need to actually *do* it).

“But I really think everyone could learn from Doug who demonstrated that it is possible to try to connect with civility.”
Note that he did so by questioning your motives in general and not questioning any of your specific points. Countering those points would’ve required pointing out that you’re an evil liar.
And honestly, I think he pretty strongly implied it. It *is* objectively true, after all.

Oh, and I’m not a fan of your anti-Christian bigotry. By accusing anybody who opposes you of doing so out of anti-Christian bigotry, you have stated that your evil, lies, and hatred are the definition of Christian.
You’ve called me a bigot. You’ve stated that I can’t be a Christian without being evil, that I can’t both be a Christian and pay any attention to the values of Christ.
I take that insult seriously.

Harry LedbetterJune 13, 2012 at 9:21 pm -

I read many touching stories on here. SO glad to have people open and honest about feelings against discrimination. At the end of the day, I have to ask myself, “if this person is willing to openly discriminate against one class, sex, race, religion, etc, how many others will he do in the private”? For those of you who believe in a higher power and forgiveness, I hope you find it possible to pray for his forgiveness, for those of you who do not, I hope you find a way to put him out of your head and think positive thoughts about just being a good person. Come November I hope we both unite in putting people into office that do not express discrimination and bigotry either openly or in the closet(because someone of some race, creed, culture, religion, sexual orientation, sex, etc other than you fought to protect your right to vote)!

MerlynJune 13, 2012 at 9:27 pm -

This is disgusting. Most military suicides result from PTSD. DADT repeal doesn’t have a damn thing to do with it. Why do conservatives, who pride themselves on being so “godly” love to lie the way they do?

DaveTheWaveJune 13, 2012 at 9:37 pm -

Does this Buster guy know that religion is unprovable mythology, antiquated belief systems from a dark time? The religionistas should submit solid proof of the existence of their magical sky being before expecting to be able to use its dogma to control society. And that’s really all they want…control. Of sex, women, and money. Why else was the patriarchy set up? Their obsession with sex, especially gay male sex, reveals their terror of anyone who might render their masulinity obsolete or irrelevant. No masculine privilege means no patriarchy power base. The sooner the rich old xtian boys on top are neutralized, the better the future will be. Look forward, not backward. Science over superstition. Religionistas, get some sex. And enemas. You’ll feel better.

“Buster has pastored many churches since 1975, and is known for his Biblical preaching/teaching, and his emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s presence and ministry among the church today.”

Okay, let’s do a little math here. It typically takes at a minimum 6 years to obtain a PhD from an accredited university, so that would put Rev. Buster Wilson at age 18 in about 1969, when the Vietnam war was still going on and the draft was still in effect. Of course, one way to obtain a permanent draft exemption was to study for the ministry, which obviously Buster did, and managed to stay in college (doubling his protection from being drafted by having a college deferment) until he graduated in 1975, two years after the draft ended.

There’s no way Dr. Buster Wilson would have had his sanctimonious a*s on the line in a real war and there is certainly no reason to believe he actually served in the military.

This chicken hawk “expert” on the military might do well to keep his yellow mouth shut on military matters.

So my question is, what makes him an “expert” on military matters?

spc wilsonJune 14, 2012 at 8:25 am -

People say that now that we are able to be gay in the military that there will be an increase in sexual assault. However, both of the man on man sexual assault cases where from a “straight” man raping my two gay friends out of anger when he found out they where serving. Just because we are gay doesn’t mean we aren’t picky we don’t all of a sudden want every other guy that we serve with nothing has changed.

Paul McJune 14, 2012 at 8:29 am -

I may be in love with Regan Du Casse although I haven’t yet told my husband.

Also StraightGrandmother, and Evan and Priya and all the other…oh hell, is this adultery in the heart, cos it feels like bursting with pride.

Sometimes rates of an underreported problem going up are a good thing…
It can mean the *reports* are going up, not the cases.
Since gay victims of sexual assault can now report the crimes without fear of punishment, rates jump up as reporting more closely matches reality. Now something can actually be done about it (and repeal of DADT itself likely *is* doing something).

vermontdaveJune 15, 2012 at 4:03 pm -

First time commenter here.
I’ve read articles at TWO via RWW for a sometime, but never read comments.
First off to Harry Ledbetter. Thank you for your service sir.
Second to Regan DuCasse. You are a rock star! You put into words what I could only nod and agree with.

I’m a straight white dude living with a beautiful woman in VT. We have marriage equality around here. We have lots of churches, lots of military families and lots of liberal, progressive politics.
What makes the difference between VT and MS?

Vermont is the least religious state in the nation, while Mississippi is the most religious. And the churches that Vermont does have are moderate and not as obsessed with homosexuality. Meanwhile, many of the Mississippi churches are one step removed from snake handling.

Ron StoneJune 15, 2012 at 10:53 pm -

This Buster person revealed one key truth back up toward the top of this thread (#9): “I’ve told no lies that you can document.” Interesting choice of words, and even a charitable reader might wonder if he’s admitting to deceptions he thinks we haven’t caught. The average reader, I suspect, would conclude that his slip of the tongue indicates pride in his success in conning his flock, and his hubris in assuming that the rest of us will fall if he just keeps slathering on his slimy hypocrisy. As to “hating” him, that would indicate that he is powerful enough to constitute a danger to civil society, and is not warranted by either his message or his advocacy – only contempt and a little pity. If he inconveniences the grown-ups, he and his can be swept onto the trash heap and forgotten.

DaveTheWaveJuly 2, 2012 at 10:01 am -

Mississippi serves as an example of the authoritarian fascist nature of religion. Religion demands unquestioned obedience and conformity, and the only way to ensure a steady supply of suckers is to keep them uneducated and uninformed. Controlling sexual attitudes is fascism’s tool for controlling society…if they can seize control of sexuality, they can control pretty much everything about the people, and ‘weeding out’ those who are not conforming to ‘established norms’, such as the LGBT community, is a common part of the program. No wonder the more nutty-religious the area, the more it is obsessed with sex, especially GAY sex!

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